Judge Kavanaugh was accused of sexually assaulting women three decades ago, accusations that saw the confirmation process deteriorate into a bitter partisan battle.

Trump has repeatedly said that putting conservatives on the court - Kavanaugh is his second appointment - was among the top goals of his presidency.

Justice Kavanaugh also faces more than a dozen judicial misconduct complaints over his public statements as a nominee to the Supreme Court.

Also in attendance was his predecessor, the retired Justice Anthony Kennedy.

There were no disruptions in the courtroom, and the justices laughed at one another's jokes.

"The way they really tortured him and his family, I thought it was a disgrace", Trump said on Monday, US east coast time.

He said that "under historic scrutiny", Kavanaugh was "proven innocent".

Arguments will resume Wednesday in separate cases, one involving the detention of undocumented immigrants. Next to him will be Justice Elena Kagan, who hired him to teach at Harvard Law when she served as dean.

Netanyahu and Putin agreed to meetIn recent months, one key former advisor to the Netanyahu family has turned state witness, raising the stakes against them. It is not the first time Sara Netanyahu, an educational psychologist, has come before a court over alleged misbehavior.

Kavanaugh was confirmed by the Senate on Saturday, earning 50 "yes" votes - the fewest for any Supreme Court justice in the modern era.

The cases challenge the types of crimes that qualify as violent felonies under that law and can lead to 15-year mandatory minimum sentences for a defendant.

"I'm not saying nobody could do it. but it requires a lot of force, more than you might think", Roberts said.

And it wouldn't elicit laughs as Justice Sonia Sotomayor did when she gave Justice Neil Gorsuch a little pinch on the arm to illustrate whether something like that would fit under the law's definition.

"However much we might sympathize or agree with EPA's policy objectives, EPA may act only within the boundaries of its statutory authority", Kavanaugh wrote in the ruling. Kavanaugh was a judge on the D.C. Circuit for 12 years.

Kavanaugh emphasized he will be an "independent" and "impartial" justice on the nation's highest court. He will take notes for the justices when they meet for private conferences.

But he always seemed to intently watch the other justices as they posed questions, even leaning far forward to see Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg when she spoke. Mr Kavanaugh emphatically denied the allegations.

He later expressed regret over some of his comments. "It is very hard I think for a member of the public to look at what goes on in confirmation hearings these days, which is a very sharp conflict in political terms between Democrats and Republicans, and not think that the person who comes out of that process must similarly share that partisan view of public issues and public life".

During a ceremonial swearing-in at the White House this evening, Kavanaugh described the confirmation process as "contentious and emotional" but said he has "no bitterness".